How to market a med spa, in the order that works

Why the order matters

Most advice on med spa marketing is a list of ideas: post on Instagram, host an event, try an influencer. Ideas are easy to start and hard to judge, so this guide puts the work in order.

Picture someone who hears about you from a friend, then searches your name or the treatment on Google. They land on your Google profile, read your reviews and open your site. If those three places are thin, the friend, the event and the post all lose some of their pull. So start with the places people check, then add what brings new people in, then what brings them back.

Set up your Google Business Profile properly

Your Business Profile is the panel that shows on Google Maps and Search. Google ranks local results mainly on relevance, distance and popularity. You cannot move closer to a searcher. You can make your profile match more of what they search by filling in every part of it.

• Pick the primary category that best describes your business, then add a few more for your main services. Do not add one for every treatment.
• Add each treatment to your services list with a plain description and, where you publish one, a price.
• Connect your booking software so the book button on your profile opens your real calendar.
• Add photos of your treatment rooms, your team and your entrance, so a first visit starts with no guessing about where to park.
• Keep your hours current, holidays included.

If you are a mobile business and clients never come to you, set the towns you drive to as your service area. Google says that if you don't serve customers at your business address, remove your address from your profile. Use photos of your team, your setup and your kit in place of a front door.

Use the exact same business name on your profile, your website, your sign and your cards.

Give every treatment its own page

One services page that lists everything does not match what people type. Someone searching for lip filler, a chemical peel or laser hair removal in your town wants a page about that one treatment. Build a page for each treatment you want more of. On each one, cover:

• What the treatment is, in plain words.
• Who it suits, and who should talk to your provider first.
• How long the visit takes and what happens during it.
• The price, or where the price starts.
• A book button near the top and again at the bottom.

Write every word yourself or with your team, and have your medical director approve anything that describes what a treatment does. The FTC expects health claims to be backed by competent and reliable scientific evidence, and wording copied from a supplier brochure or another spa does not come with any. The med spa website design guide covers what else the site needs before launch.

Ask every client for a review, the same way every time

Reviews feed the popularity part of local ranking. On the same help page, Google says "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking."

Make asking a habit. Create your review link or QR code from your profile and send it by text on the day of the visit, while the appointment is fresh in the client's mind.

Sample text: Hi Jordan, thank you for coming in today. If you have a minute, a Google review helps other people find us: [your review link]. If anything about your visit was not right, reply here and I will call you.

Two rules shape how you ask. Google says offering incentives, like "free or discounted goods or services", in exchange for posting, changing or removing reviews is strictly prohibited. So no discount, raffle entry or free add-on for a review. The FTC's rule on reviews goes further: it bars rewards tied to reviews that say a certain thing, positive or negative. Send the same text to every client, whether the visit went perfectly or not. Our guide to getting more Google reviews walks through replies too, and the steps work the same for a med spa.

Show real work, with written permission

Before and after photos let a visitor judge your work for themselves. Get the client's signed, written permission before any photo goes on your site, your profile or social media. Treat a client's photos like the rest of their chart: say exactly where each one will appear, keep the signed form in their file, and take a photo down the day a client asks.

Then caption with care. The FTC reads a result shown in an ad as the result others can expect, and a line like "Individual results may vary" does not change that. Choose photos that show what the treatment usually does, take both shots in the same light from the same angle, and never retouch the after photo.

Add Google Ads once the pages are ready

Ads send people to pages, so build the treatment pages first. Point each ad at the page for that treatment instead of your homepage, so the person who searched for lip filler lands on lip filler. Sample searches to start with:

One ad rule hits med spas and IV businesses that offer prescription treatments alike. Neurotoxins and many weight loss medicines are prescription drugs, and Google "restricts the use of prescription drug terms in ads, landing pages, and keywords." A drug brand name in an ad or keyword can get the ad limited or disapproved. Describe the treatment in plain words instead, keep outcome promises out of the copy, and check the policy for each location you target. The Google Ads for a med spa guide lists what you can bid on and what Google limits.

Turn first visits into regular ones

Several med spa treatments are done as a series or repeated on a schedule your provider sets. Plan the second visit while the client is still in the chair.

• Book the next visit before the client leaves, at the interval your provider recommends.
• Send a reminder text when the next visit is due, only to clients who agreed to get texts from you.
• Start a membership or package only once you can see which treatments clients come back for. Put the price, what is included and how to cancel in plain words at signup.
• Keep a short email list for new treatments and open dates, with an easy way to unsubscribe.

Track what each step brings in

Count booked consults and first visits by where they came from: calls and clicks from your Google profile, the book button on your site, your ads and referrals from friends. Ask every new client how they found you and note it in their file. Once a month, look at the cost per booked visit for each paid channel, and move money toward the ones that book. Keep doing the free steps above every week, because each review and each new treatment page keeps working after the day you add it.

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Manage your business category
• Google Business Profile Help: Manage your service areas
• Google Business Profile Help: Tips to get more reviews
• FTC: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, Questions and Answers
• FTC: Endorsement Guides, What People Are Asking
• Google Ads Policy Help: Healthcare and medicines
• FTC: Health Products Compliance Guidance

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